If the as-built location controls, is there any limit to how much the location can deviate from the recorded description?
Not really, no. I mean if the pipe ended up like 200 feet away or more then I'd probably double check that I'm looking at the correct pipe. The pipe might not be right on but it also shouldn't be miles away is what I'm saying.
Does the easement then shift?
Nah, that would be avulsion, the centerline stays where it was.
"20 feet wide and centered on the pipeline after it is installed."
This is the operative phase in the description that negates the bearings and distances contained in the original description. The original bearings and distances cease to have any meaning once construction is completed. The existing pipeline (similar in most instances with electric, telecom, etc.) becomes the monument.
Generally, the amount of deviation from the original description is immaterial unless the as-built location falls on or otherwise impacts a neighboring parcel where no agreement had been made. Sometimes, and not very often, the easement agreement might be written to limit the location, including any deviations in the construction process to a particular portion of one's land. For instance, a farmer might have 40 acres he uses as pasture and another 80 he uses as orchard and the agreement might limit the use to the pasture.
When I worked with a gas company in northern Michigan as a chainman/instrumentman in the early 1980s, I was amazed at just how loose their survey methods were. Easements were negotiated with that in mind and with the fact in mind that unforeseen underground obstructions might be encountered during construction necessitating deviation from the originally contemplated path.
Thank you all for your responses, they have mostly cleared things up for me. I was questioning whether a future action can alter the conveyance, but it is clear that the conveyance intended to place the right-of-way on top of the as-built pipe. Hypothetically, without that verbiage, would the pipe location still control over the description? In that case the pipe was installed after the grant was executed with no word that the pipe should control, but at the same time the pipe might be better evidence of the intended location than the description is.
Thank you all for your responses, they have mostly cleared things up for me. I was questioning whether a future action can alter the conveyance, but it is clear that the conveyance intended to place the right-of-way on top of the as-built pipe. Hypothetically, without that verbiage, would the pipe location still control over the description? In that case the pipe was installed after the grant was executed with no word that the pipe should control, but at the same time the pipe might be better evidence of the intended location than the description is.
To clarify my question, what questions might you ask to determine whether the pipeline location or the description will be held?
To clarify my question, what questions might you ask to determine whether the pipeline location or the description will be held?
I will implore you to carefully read all the documents associated with the original transaction. Also, be very familiar with State Statutes. I know that that description will not fly under Statutes today in my area. That would need to be time limited to one year with a corrected centerline description to be filed within one year of construction. Older easements will have different requirements.
Just be careful, if you don't know ask experienced legal professionals with the utility company, they don't want to ever lose an easement. Sometimes it happens.
As Moe said, some jurisdictions will have addressed this type of situation in code. The utility might be required to only file a revised easement deed if there were changes made to location during construction. Some might put a time limit on it.
Other jurisdictions might only depend upon the customary practice. For example, Pacific Gas & Electric, at least in the portion of CA where I had my private practice wouldn't include the "as constructed" language as in the deed you're working with. I found on one survey that an overhead line was out of the easement corridor as described by up to 30'. After looking into the matter deeper, I learned that the customary practice was very much like my gas company experience in that an approximate route was roughly "surveyed" (maybe by actual surveyors but maybe by a RW agent with a hand compass) and the actual easement location was considered to be centered on the line where it was built. Verified that through PG&E employees involved in the process and with several other surveyors in the region.
Haven't seen where that's been tested in court, but customary practices that occur across a profession or within a particular huge conglomerate utility company typically carry a good amount of weight with the courts.